Tell me about the wild card bracket. Let's say the Tournament is scheduled for 16 teams. Do you invite 15 and let the open bracket select the 16th? Or do you invite 16 and drop the bottom one (or two) in favor of the wild card bracket winner(s)? Will the wild card bracket also be limited to 16 teams?

if you're married to the idea of running a qualifying around alongside the big-boy round of invited teams, it's a really cool idea to introduce relegation. fuck, relegate the bottom four, that'll make it interesting!

i never ever check this thing, but jake mentioned that its okay for people that aren't really good (me) to show up and play. i'll be coming from portland, oregan with ken and andy and so i'll be there no matter what as its on our cross country ride home. i'll play in that notasgoodasishouldbe bracket.. anybody in this bracket need a teammate?

uh, we're not they're yet, dawg. we'll be in portland around april 20th or a few days after. we will be on our bikes headed for THIS tournament by the 25th. p.s...who are you? i don't know these names y'all come up with. thanks!

If i have contacted you by email and you confirmed you would be there then you are on my confirmed list.
There are still a couple invites to go out email style, but we will be sending actual in the snailmail fancy invites so when you recieve that please RSVP. the emails are meant for us to know who and what address to send the snailmail ones.

There will be a meeting of the bigwigs for this tourney planning wise the week after valentines day so i can report back with more updates then.

ha!
jake just giving you a hard time
but srysly ryan from dc is lording this invite
its kinda hard for me to deal with since i brought the game out here
i am sure i will have a good time anyway
see you soon capt.
j

i'm not "lording" the invite. i would just like to talk to people, yourself included, about who we should send. you may have brought the game to dc, but the people playing now picked it up after you left, without ever meeting you or playing with you or playing with the people you played with. you know i want to talk to you about it because i emailed you and said we should talk at polo. we have been going on opposite nights lately and haven't talked about it.

we'll talk when you're back from florida. at the moment, dc will be bringing one team that is invited. we just don't know who that team will consist of.

Yo, dudes - as far as I understand, there's going to be a second bracket, a 'wild card' bracket, that is open to anyone. Winning it (or possibly placing near the top) will get you a spot in the main bracket. This is what Jake told me on the phone. No need to get your dander up, DC.

I'm quite aware of this, Jason is just all kinds of butthurt that nobody asked him to be on the team that currently does not exist. We're gonna figure something out for the team in the invited bracket, and then if we have 3 other players that want to (and are able to) go out, then maybe there will be two teams. Who knows, either way, somebody will be there.

zack -mke bike polo is sponsored by enterprise we get 5% and a business account with them so chekc around for prices but email me privetely for the code to get the discount. it may be better than other places price wise and the business account they defintely have better cust. service when they think you are busineess folkwww.mkebikepolo.com

It would really help me out in determining how many more we can invite into the "invite division" if those planning on attending to play in the open division let me know they are coming in advance too.

also anyone who I have emailed please make sure you confirm your attendance or your city's taking of the spot offered. If some city's that have not or can not accept the invite drop out we can invite more teams the better looking of a picture i have sooner the sooner we can determine who else can move into the "invite divison" or invite/contact

make sense? basically please RSVP your attendance ASAP

For those on the fence about coming to play in the open division please get on our side there will be lots of games to be played for you and fun to be had. mke in the summer is the best time to visit!www.mkebikepolo.com

there are two divisions yes. one is the invite which is meant designed to have all the A teams in it. the other "open" division is for those who were not "invited" but there will be a wild card or few chance to make it into the sunday bracket if you do well in the open division so OHIO PLEASE COME, enter open division for your chance to play on sunday!www.mkebikepolo.com

How many invited teams are there and how many open slots is the open division playing for and is the open division limited to some number of teams?

I'll say this again: It's not worth the trip for me to compete against 20-something teams for the 16th slot in Sunday's bracket. It is worth the trip if Group A is 16 invited teams and Group B is 16 teams and after Saturday the top four B/bottom four A from the groups switch.

lucky i do not have final registration numbers in front of me, i left my bag at the bar last nigth with that stuff in it. but it is around 20-22 invited teams. the open division i have no idea as of yet only afew teams have mentioned they will be playing in this. it really will depend on how many open division teams make the trip on how many can make it into sunday.

hypothetical example- there are 20 teams invited division we have 12 teams show up to play in open i will probably take top 4 out of open division to move into sundays bracket with the wild card seeds.
hope this helps
lucky if you want to call me to go over this feel freewww.mkebikepolo.com

its not really worth you competing at all. but you would probably last longer in the group b. maybe if you played more bike polo and did less complaining on the forum maybe you could get do better at tourneys.

i'll be coming to this and am trying to find the cheapest way to do it. i think that flying in and out of chicago would be best. any chance i could score a lift from someone? if you want to email me offline that would be best. thanks all!

yo kremin, could you hook me up with a place to stay? i'll be coming up with the chicago crew probs on friday. going back whenever i can get a lift back (either sunday night or monday morning). so, i need a place for two-three nights. word.

i am currently working with the city/county parks dept to secure location as soon as i know for sure which location it will be i will post it. The parks dept has been willing to work with us, but they don't seem to understand when I tell them we are all on bikes and will be primarily staying on the eastside/riverwest area of MKE. This may end up being a bit of a hike from your sleeping location but we are working on solutions to that.

I have yet to hear of confirmation from Seattle and Philadelphia
if you are from one of those cities and are putting together your citie's top best A team to compete in this invite section please let me know ASAP.www.mkebikepolo.com

for anyone who will be in town friday early feel free to come and volunteer to help me teach kids bike safety we may even be able to teach them bike polo!!! i will be teaching at a school near the courts from 8:30-2pm that friday the 5th. come watch me do my real job..yay!!

ship your bike to ben cylce 1018 W Lincoln Ave Milwaukee, WI 53215 put something about bike polo on it and we can ship it back for you but please take care of that on friday or saturdaywww.mkebikepolo.com

kremin you will be getting 2 boxes of bikes some time next week i am shipping them via ups thursday afternoon and i hope they will get there by thursday next week the names on the boxes will be eric crandell and drew kinney thank you for letting us ship our shit there see you in a week.www.polohaus.blogspot.com
AXLES OF EVIL

I WILL ASK ONE MORE TIME IF YOU ARE ENTERING THE OPEN DIVISION PLEASE RSVP WITH ME ASAP
-no registration will be accepted on saturday morning!!!!
you must register/pay/get welcome packets on friday!!!! unless you have specifically cleared it with me beforehand!

there are bike racks on buses in mke now you should be able to catch a city bus from the airport to town for $2www.ridemcts.com is the bus scedule
most of us dont have cars but i will ask around./ if any mke folk see this and can help drunkie out speak up!www.mkebikepolo.com

I need a ride from MKE to Dayton if anyone can help me with that. Will be just me and no bike or mallets.

I just found out I'm doing a ride from NYC to LA with the BFF and some vodka company. A bunch of riders are doing it together 2 weeks after the COG tourny. I need to get to my home town and p/u my touring bike from my moms. I'll just ship my polo bike back to NY from MKE, find a way to Dayton and chinatown bus it back to NY. Then tune it up and get my life ready for 2 months on the road.

The MKE crew, along with some MAD folks and Johnny Midwest, played on the COG courts yesterday. Armed with weed whackers and leaf blowers, we whipped (or should i say whacked) the courts into shape and got some good games in. The courts are awesome! Completely level and smooth with some cracks, but, i don;t think anyone noticed the cracks playing because they were so small. Court size will be about the same as "NYC in MAD" or "CMWC" in TO... big enough. Also, the neighborhood is awesome! Lotsa awesome mexican food vendors in the park and a burrito truck, plus nearby beer stores and other restaurants, Ben's Cycle a block away... and lights on the courts!
-hero squad * milwaukee, wi-

I NEED NEED NEED a front wheel (27x1 1/4) for this weekend! I'm in chicago today (mke tomorrow) if anyone has a wheel that they want to get ride of or if someone can point me in the direction where I might find one? PANIC!

if anyone wnats to participate in the MKE monthly alleycat tonight, it starts at 7pm at the Swingin Door (225 E Michigan Ave) and will end at Shotwell (the place where we're having the registration party near the courts) $5
-hero squad * milwaukee, wi-

Fantastic time.
Thank you Milwaukee for the shit (read "shivering") weather on Saturday and sunburn on Sunday.
Thank you Kremin and his roommates for the great place to stay.
Thank you Jill and Jon A. from Madison for asking me to be their third.
See you all again...
Lee

I had a great time with everyone this weekend. Thank you MKE for hosting an awesome group of bike polo teams. There were so many great match-ups each day. The pickup games are always my favorite part - I miss you all already. My new team crush is for Richmond. Sorry Milwaukee, you just cant dance as well as those fellas.
Here is a selection of photos from the event this weekend - http://photocast.me.com/idear/iPhoto/coginvite2009/index.rss
Thank you to Eric for the place to crash.
Keith.

Thank you MKE Bike Polo!
Thanks Jake & Kremin
Thanks Cait
Thanks to all you excellent polo players who schooled me! you know who are
Thanks everyone who attended this awesome event!
See you next time....

Thank you Milwaukee! It was an absolutely amazing and incredibly well run tournament. No major glitches that I can remember. Thanks Jake and Joe. Thanks for the roof Kremin. Thanks to Shay for the party favours. Thanks Cascadia for producing such world class talent. Mostly thank you Leon and Seabass for being super duper awesome teammates. See all you guys down the road.

holy fuck its finally over. thank you to everyone who came slayed, drank, smoked, cleaned up truly and amazing week end. i cant thank milwaukee bicycle company enough non of it would have happend with out them. and thanks to anyone who helped volunteerswww.mkebikepolo.com

a huge thanks to jake, kremin and the rest of milwaukee for a seamlessly smooth tourney. big thanks to kait and kremin for the places to crash in town and to ben schultz for the place in chicago (thanks also to ben for showing me places to hit up). huge thanks to the chicago boyz for toting my ass from town to town (keith, ohio, joe, matt, ben, abe). thanks to minneapolis for the van rides. thanks to richmond, alexis and cecily for taking all my money at threes. thanks so much to my teammates - ben and jonny - for playing your hearts out (and thank you jonny for the sponsorship). thanks to the seattle boys for that tough game on saturday (even if it did get a bit ugly). thanks to joe for breaking his frame and allowing us to take adcvantage of you being demoralized (just kidding - it was an awesome game though!). thanks to ballz deep for spanking us - you'll get yours soon ;). thanks to drew, crandall and brian for one of the closest and most difficult game i've played in a while (it coulda gone either way). thanks to everyone who huddled around the fire on sunday night and joked around before i left (THAT was a great end to a great weekend). thanks to chris NYC for the hugs (see you next month!). i'm sure i have left out tonnes of people and events that made that weekend great and, if so, i'm sorry. you all rock!

Ironically, this flag of Cascadia is known as "The Doug". Doug come home, Your Flag is calling Your Name.

Well played Cascadia, you stood on the shoulders of every rainy shitty pick-up match under a bridge you played all winter and showed everyone what the west coast is made of. I can't wait to see you all again in Portland in a couple weeks, for Seattle later this summer, and for the Pacific Triple Crown next year. Thanks Joe, Kremin, Jake, Brian et al for putting on a great tournament and the surreal river-mist-camp-fire after party. Thanks Jas just for Being There, Robbie Boardz for believing, sorry to everyone I tagged at the party but you shouldn't have gone to bed.

Thanks Drew from Milwaukee Bicycles for all the great prizes and most importantly the court-side repair services. Thanks Kevin from Cog for the Brooks saddle that will sit under my ass for the rest of my days, Velocity for the wheel set you are going to send me, and Bern for the first helmet I have owned in ten years. Also thank-you Pabst Blue Ribbon for tasting so damn good and on all of Milwaukee for throwing down a great tournament, I am going to make a donation to the "save the potholes" fund soon. Special thanks to Ryan for housing the west coast and providing the cadillac of sleeping pads, wear that East Van shirt with pride. But mostly thanks Chris for taking it in the gonads for the team, and for showing it to us just enough to go straight out and buy stem pads, you're a pro all the way. Rory-Bear, you're just the biggest sweatiest polo god ever.

ok now i've had a second to relax and take a breath...phewww
THANK YOU FIRST TO ALL the players that traveled far and wide to come to MKE!! It was awesome to have all you in our hometown!!
THANK YOU to MKE bike Co.---holy crap you guys rock!
Thanks to SWRV, BERN, PBR,Brooks, Breakaway bike couriers, COG, Milwaukee Courier Co, Furthermore, Just coffee, Knog, Velocity, the irish pub, and all the awesome volunteers!!! thanks

Also thanks to Thahn for kicking ass and hauling people and stuff around and getting the goals set up and what not.

Thanks to everyone who helped build and take down boards..matt hewitt!!..and the rest of you

Congrats to BAllz Deep, and big ups to SHowbiz kids basically 2/3 mke.. madison you didnt teach crandal anything..he knew it all or learned it from me;)ohh yeah and by the way THANKS TO MR and Mrs Crandall for driving all around to find balls last minute!! and get us poster board and being the most awesome polo player parents i've met!!

thanks to alexis-Ottawa for coming despite your broke ass lazy teammates cancelling and thanks to leon and seabass for taking their place.. glad to finally play against you!

I apologize for the way saturday ran but you all got in a shit ton of polo this weekend so stop crying

Hope you all had fun in MKe and you are all welcome back anytime!
-Jake

Thanks so much MKE. Great time. Lots of hard clean polo. Great to have met so many friendly midwest folks. Great idea for a tournament. Finally catching up on sleep after the all night party at Kremin's. Can't wait to do it again at the North American's.

MKE killed it!!!! So many thanks to give: First and foremost, Capt. Jake for wearing such a great outfit on day one and giving us such a stellar weekend, seeing to it that we played some of the best tournament polo yet. Steven ("It's my place and I'm gonna have a party") and Eric for the hospitality. Kremin, Drew, and all at MKE Bike Co./Ben's Cycle for the great prizes, support, and for getting my teammate a 22t freewheel. Johnny Midwest for taking care of the injured and especially for looking after Tucker when he got his face busted up. I want to echo the thanks to Ben Hunter for heading Joe's wheel. Of course, thanks to everyone who showed up from all over. I can't say enough how good it is to have a weekend every month when I get to battle and hang out with some of the best people one could hope to find.

Lastly, I want to say R.I.P. to JoeMKE's bike. Joe, I know we don't love it like you do, but it sure feels like a family member has gone. That's what happens to the equipment of a champ.

thank you to everyone, for the tournament, and to kremin and shae (sp?) and everyone in that house for the hospitality. pleasurable memories were made from start to finish. hope to see you all again soon.

i just wanna say, as a native Milwaukeean, it was an honor to have all you fine people and great players in MKE. It was nice to be playing a tournament and to be able to sleep in my own bed for once. See you all soon.
-hero squad * milwaukee, wi-

thank yous to MKE and eeryone who set this up for making my first tourny a memorable one. much much fun, and amazing prize for dfl. great to meet everyone that i did... and forgot the names already. tnaks to my team, cecily and "the busted cherrys"... we did it!

I also want to thank Lucky for helping me get games written out and for helping out , BIG BIG thanks to ourJulian and his DJ's and Milwaukee Courier CO for bringing da noise and some funkwww.mkebikepolo.com

anyone who has pictures of PBR in it could you please link me to them..the PBR rep needs to show them to his bosses to prove we are not wasting his time by giving us cash...also maybe those of you who got sweet swag PBR prizes...(leon) send me a pic of youo wearing it or holding it or somehting and with your polo mallet or bike int he pic...this would help me out alot and i will continue to bring the szwag...see ya in ottawa!www.mkebikepolo.com

COG invite tshirts!!!!!
smalls only!!! navy blue and maroon
$10 plus shipping
contact me to purchase!!!
umm dont have a pic but they are rad there is probably a pic with someone wearing one in one of those flickr setswww.mkebikepolo.com